Kotlet- Persian Cutlet

Persian cutlets are the best....you can make it with beef or turkey.  I chose turkey for my first time.  Frying these without burning is a challenge since pieces of the breading fall off and burn in the pan.  Try to wipe away after each session with a paper towel but be careful not to burn yourself.  These are very good served with pita or lavash with some mayo, tomato, persian pickles, cilantro, basil, and some persian sabzi.  The recipe I used is from the site I mentioned before, Mypersiankitchen.com.  I love the detailed pictures the chef provides for each step.  I didn't have a food mill or mixer so I just mashed with a hand masher.  It was hard so I think next time I will have to purchase a food mill or maybe blend it a bit. 




Ingredients
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 lb potatoes
2 eggs
1 onion
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tbsp advieh
bread crumbs
salt & pepper
vegetable oil

Place potatoes in a pot, cover with cold water, add some salt, and cook until a fork easily goes through.

Grate onion. You may possibly wonder what the heck in the candle in the background is all about. I have very sensitive eyes. Onion cutting = tears for me. I think I saw this Alton Brown’s show where he suggested having some type of flame close by when cutting onions.  It works for me, for the most part.

Once your potatoes are done they need to be peeled and mashed. You see this little nifty kitchen tool? I so love it! This Food Mill was given to me by Goli, one of my 10-20 times removed cousins,  as a birthday present a few years back.  I also love it because it remind me of my Grandma’s kitchen as she owned one of these and used it frequently.

This is by far my favorite way to make mashed potatoes. No lumps and the texture is nice and silky.

Ya see this other awesome kitchen tool? I so love it too.  You may have noticed that I use my KitchenAid mixer pretty frequently as it makes mixing so much easier. Place turmeric, advieh, salt, and pepper in the mixer.

Add eggs and give it a nice mix.

Then add the potatoes and and onion. Give them a nice mix. Then throw in the ground beef. Add enough salt to season well

Mix well until all the ingredients are nicely incorporated.

Now here comes the fun part! Take a small amount of the mixture and make a small ball out of it.

Then pat it flat and try your best to form it in a tear shape.  The patty should be not too thick or too thin. As a side note, I often wonder how the shape of Kotlet came about….I wonder if it was meant to be similar to the shape of a Paisley…

Place breadcrumbs in a dish.

Then coat each Kotlet with bread crumbs.

In theory all Kotlets should be the same size and thickness.  Can’t say that I am very good at making everything look the same size and shape…but I sure try hard! Anyway, I got 18 pieces out of this recipe. The 18th one is in the dish for inquiring minds!

Warm up some vegetable oil in a non-stick pan.  Fry a few Kotlets at a time making sure that you don’t crowd them.

Once you see that the bottom has turned into a nice golden color flip them over. Add more oil as necessary.

Place a dish with a papertowel in it next to your frying pan.  When removing the Kotlets from the pan try to drain as much as the oil as possible.  Then place onto the plate.

Continue frying the Kotlets until they are all a nice golden color and crisp on the outside.  Ya see how one Kotlet is missing one the left? There used to be three there…until I ate one ’cause I could not resist waiting until the others were all done! To keep the ones that you have made warm, place the plate in your oven.  As a tip to keeping these wonderful persian treats nice and crispy remember to not cover them while they are on the plate, as this will only trap the steam coming off of them and make them soggy.  Doing this may be a bit of a trick as each plate paper towel can only comfortable hold 3-4 Kotlet each, but if you are planning on eating them shortly after cooking it is well worth the extra room taken up in the oven as they will stay nice and crispy on the outside and soft and warm on the inside.